Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University Open Scholarship
Neureuther Book Collection Essay Competition
Student Contests & Competitions
2007
Science and Politics in the History of
Paleoanthropology
Tafline Crawford
Washington University in St Louis
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Crawford, Tafline, "Science and Politics in the History of Paleoanthropology" (2007). Neureuther Book Collection Essay Competition.
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2007 Neureuther Book Competition – Graduate Division
Tafline C. Crawford
Science and Politics in the History of Paleoanthropology
I would suggest that, for many people, questions along the lines of “What do you do
for a living?” or “What are you studying?” are a routine element of courteous
conversation. I can imagine a gentleman waiting in line at the supermarket right this instant
is using one of these neutral inquiries to pleasantly whittle away time. As conventional as
these questions may be, my response is probably equally unconventional: “I’m working on
my Ph.D. in paleoanthropology… I specialize in the study of human evolution”. As you
might imagine, my answer is frequently met with impassioned response. Some find my
work fascinating and jealously conjure up images of life in the field straight from a scene
out of Lara Croft: The Tomb-Raider or giggle about the hilarity of the Geiko “cave-man”
commercials, then inquire with fascination if Neanderthals and humans could interbreed.
Others seem indignant and ardently insist that evolution is fictitious and cite the
complexity of natural structures such as the eye or rotary motors on bacterial flagellum as
proof. These divergent responses illustrate the extraordinary variability in the United States
of public perceptions regarding human evolution. To me, the one constant appears to be
that whatever a person’s opinion about the field of human evolution, it is expressed with
fervor. Personal opinions surrounding the study of human evolution are obviously driven
by both the politics of individuals and the current social milieu. However, I would argue
that texts in human evolutionary research and theory are also a matter of individual politics
and the social setting in which they are constructed. I collect books on human evolution for
many reasons: partly for occupational necessity, partly for love of paleoanthropology,
partly to satiate an obsessive drive to see how changing politics has influenced human
evolutionary theory.
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2007 Neureuther Book Competition – Graduate Division
Tafline C. Crawford
To some level, my collection of books on human evolution is an occupational
necessity. I would argue, however, that my passion for the field more strongly drives my
collection. I am fascinated with the anatomy of our fossil ancestors and, as a result, my
research focus is anatomical comparisons of our earliest fossil human ancestors. Thus, my
collection is driven by a mixture of necessity and passion. My obsession, however, is
driven by a more powerful motivation. When I stroll by a used bookstore I feel an
uncontrollable impulse to search their stacks. I walk into these shops with a fluttering
heart, fantasizing that I might stumble upon ancient texts on paleoanthropology. Let me
warn you that sixty years old would not categorize as “ancient” in the study of many fields.
For instance, human anatomy has not changed much since Henry Gray published his first
edition of Gray’s Anatomy in 1858. In contrast, paleoanthropological books go out of date
in a matter of a few years. Today my 10 year old copy of Reconstructing Human Origins
(Conroy, 1997) does not mention several species and genera of fossil humans discovered
since its publication (Sahelanthropus, Kenyanthropus, Orrorin, Ardipithecus kadabba, and
Homo floresiensis, just to name a few). The hypothesized trees of relationships for fossil
human species have been completely reorganized since the first edition. For undergraduate
students trying to grasp the field, this may understandably seem to be a horror rivaled only
by the bubonic plague. Yet this rapid change provides an amazing opportunity for an
obsessed book collector. In fact, this ability to trace the evolution of paleoanthropology is
what drives my obsession.
My book collection spans from 1949 to 2007 and illustrates how changes in politics
and social perceptions through time drive changes in theory. The scientific method is
designed to be objective, but interpretations and theoretical frameworks upon which
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2007 Neureuther Book Competition – Graduate Division
Tafline C. Crawford
scientific research are built are often anything but objective. For instance, the infiltration of
paleoanthropological theory by Western biblical creation stories is exemplified by my copy
of Campbell’s 1966 book titled Human Evolution: An Introduction to Man’s Adaptations,
which depicts a naked Adam and Eve each holding an apple on the cover. Clearly, this
illustrative choice implies that the origin of humans entails some sort of fall from grace.
This theme – that humans are born into sin – permeates many of my earliest texts and has
long been evoked in human evolutionary explanations, pre-dating even Charles Darwin’s
On the Origin of Species (1859). My collection includes a copy of Robert Ardrey’s African
Genesis, which is an entire text devoted to convincing the public that human evolution is
the process by which humans are born into sin and are evolved to be natural killers. The
opening sentence of the book indicates its biblical theme: “Not in innocence, and not in
Asia, was mankind born” (Ardrey 1961:12). Ardrey also writes “we are Cain’s children”
and continues “man is a predator whose natural instinct is to kill with a weapon” (Ardrey
1961:322). While religious references have diminished in paleoanthropological theory the
same theories are elicited today in popular books, such as Demonic Males: Apes and the
Origins of Human Violence (Wrangham and Peterson, 1996). Stripped of its rhetoric and
put into its Western religious and philosophical moment, the book is simply a continuation
of this deep-rooted theme. Repeatedly disproved, the continual reappearance of this notion
of humans as inherent sinners and war-mongers indicates its great appeal to the public.
My collection of texts also demonstrates the first appearance of women in the
history of paleoanthropological discussions. Although women make up slightly more than
half of our species, they were long absent in discussions of human evolution. Females are
first introduced into human evolution as essentially helpless baby-producing machines.
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Tafline C. Crawford
According to Buettner-Janusch “the helpless offspring which the primate female must
carry with her, may have had an important effect upon emerging human social structure…
a female with young who has a mate that brings her back part of the kill would no longer
be at a disadvantage” (1966:359). Beyond similar brief references, I could not find
discussion of the role of women in my book collection until I picked up the edited volume
Women in Human Evolution (Hager, 1997). This was the first book that suggested the
possibility that females may have played an important role in the evolution of our species.
Heavily bathed in postmodernism and following on the heels of the feminist political
movement in the United States, this is the ultimate feminist critique of paleoanthropology.
I am driven to collect human evolutionary texts because it allows me to trace how
social movements drive theory. Philosophers of science have long pointed out that
opposing explanations may be either the result of differences in empirical data or
differences in theoretical frameworks. I hope that I’ll make substantial contributions to my
field someday – but my collection of paleoanthropological texts from the last 60 years tells
me that no matter what I accomplish, I should remember that I am a product of my
historical and social environment. My book collection also provides a strong warning to
never over inflate my confidence concerning what I think I know. More importantly, my
collection warns paleoanthropologists (and really all scientists) that as objective as our data
may be, our questions and our interpretations are very subjective. Politics will change,
followed by theories surrounding human origins and its driving forces. I collect books to
trace this history; I strive to teach to pass along the importance of sociopolitical context
and healthy skepticism to my students.
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Bibliography
Aiello, Leslie and Dean, Christopher (1990) An Introduction to Human evolutionary
Anatomy. New York: Academic Press.
Ardrey, Robert (1961) African Genesis: A Personal Investigation in the Animal Origins
and Nature of Man. New York: Dell Publishing Co.
Brace, C. Loring, and Metress, James (1973) Man in Evolutionary Perspective. New York:
John Wiley and Sons.
Brain, CK (2004) Swartkrans: A Cave’s Chronicle of Early Man. Transvaal Museum
Monograph. No. 8. Pretoria, South Africa: Transvaal Museum.
Buettner-Janusch, John (1966). Origins of Man: Physical Anthropology. New York: John
Wiley and Sons.
Campbell, Bernhard (1966) Human Evolution: An Introduction to Man’s Adaptations.
Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co.
Clark, J. Desmond (1959) The Prehistory of Southern Africa: The Latest Discoveries
About the Origins and Cultural History of Primitive Man in Southern Africa.
London: Penguin Books.
Conroy, Glenn C. (1997) Reconstructing Human Origins. New York: W.W. Norton.
------- (2005) Reconstructing Human Origins, 2nd Ed. New York: W.W. Norton.
De Bonis, Louis, Koufos, George D., and Andrew, Peters (2001) Hominoid Evolution and
Climatic Change in Europe, Volume 2. Phylogeny of the Neogene Hominoid
Primates of Eurasia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Delisle, Richard G. (2007) Debating Humankind’s Place in Nature 1860-2000: The Nature
of Paleoanthropology. Prentice Hall Co.
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Dolhinow, Phyllis, and Sarich, Vincent M. (1971) Background for Man: Readings in
Physical Anthropology. Boston: Little, Brown and Co.
Eckardt, Robert B. (1979) The Study of Human Evolution. New York: McGraw-Hill Book
Co.
Grine, Frederick E. (1988) Evolutionary History of the “Robust” Australopithecines. New
York: Aldine de Gruyter.
Hager, Lori D. (1997) Women in Human Evolution. London: Routledge.
Haviland, William A. (2000) Human Evolution and Prehistory, 5th Ed. Toronto: Thomson,
Inc.
Jones, Steve, Martin, Robert, and Pilbeam, David (1992) The Cambridge Encyclopedia of
Human Evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kimbel, William H. and Martin, Lawrence B. (1998) Species, Species Concepts, and
Primate Evolution. New York: Plenum Press.
Kimbel, William H., Rak, Yoel, and Johanson, Donald C. (2004) The Skull of
Australopithecus afarensis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Klein, Richard G. (1999) The Human Career: Human Biological and Cultural Origins, 2nd
Edition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Kraus, Bertram S. (1964) The Basis of Human Evolution. New York: Harper and Row.
Lasker, Gabriel Ward (1961) The Evolution of Man: A Brief Introduction to Physical
Anthropology. New York: Holt, Rinehard, and Winston, Inc.
Le Gros Clarke, W. E. (1964) The Fossil Evidence for Human Evolution: An Introduction
to the Study of Palaeoanthropology, 2nd Edition. Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press.
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Leakey, Louis S. B., and Goodall, Vanne Morris (1969) Unveiling Man’s Origins: Ten
Decades of Thought About Human Evolution. Cambridge: Schenkman Publishing
Co.
Leakey, Richard E. (1977) Origins: What New Discoveries Reveal About the Emergence of
Our Species and its Possible Future. New York: E.P. Dutton.
Martin R.D. (1990) Primate Origins and Evolution: A Phylogenetic Reconstruction.
Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Meikle, W. Eric, and Parker, Sue Taylor (1994) Naming Our Ancestors: An Anthology of
Hominid Taxonomy. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
Oakley, Kenneth Page, Campbell, Bernhard Grant, and Molleson, Theya Ivitsky (1977)
Catalogue of Fossil Hominids. Part I: Africa, 2nd edition. London: Trustees of the
British Museum (Natural History).
Poggie, John J., Pelto, Gretel H., and Pertti, J. Pelto (1976) The Evolution of Human
Adaptations: Readings in Anthropology. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co.
Relethford, John H. (1997) The Human Species: An Introduction to Biological
Anthropology, 3rd Ed. London: Mayfield Publishing Co.
Shreeve, James (1995) The Neandertal Enigma: Solving the Mystery of Modern Human
Origins. New York: Avon Books.
Simpson, George Gaylord (1949) The Meaning of Evolution: A Study of the History of Life
and of Its Significance for Man. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Tattersall, Ian (1996) The Fossil Trail: How We Know What We Think We Know About
Human Evolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Tobias, Phillip V. (1991) Olduvai Gorge IV: The skulls, endocasts and teeth of Homo
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habilis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Von Koenigswalrd, GHR. (1962) The Evolution of Man. Ann Arbor: The University of
Michigan Press.
Washburn, Sherwood L., and Moore, Ruth (1974) Ape into Human: A Study of Human
Evolution. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
------ (1980) Ape into Human: A Study of Human Evolution, 2nd edition. Boston: Little,
Brown and Company.
Williams, B. J. (1973) Evolution and Human Origins. New York: Harper and Row
Publishers.
Wolpoff, Milford H. (1999) Paleoanthropology, 2nd Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Co.
Young, Louise B. (1970) The Evolution of Man. The American Foundation for Continuing
Education. New York: Oxford University Press.
Zapfe, Helmuth (1960) Die Primatenfund aus der Miozänen Spaltenfullung von Neudorf
an der mark (Dĕvínská Nová Ves), Tschechoslowakei. Mémoires Suisses De
Paléontologie. Volume 78. Basel, Switzerland: Birkhäuser Verlag.
Additional Citations
Gray, Henry (1858) Henry Gray’s Anatomy of the Human Body. London: ChurchillLivingstone.
Darwin, Charles (1859) On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection. London:
John Murray.
Wrangham, Richard and Peterson, Dale (1996) Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of
Human Violence. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.
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